Not Gripped

[cyclobutch]

Was going to be re-ringing the little twin this weekend (MG not HD) but found I was short some O rings from the gasket set. As I had some handlebar heater maps turn up I figured I'd have some fun fitting them to Hardley - this in advance of a planned brief soirée into Denmark in April of next year. The mats are designed to sit under the existing handlebar grips. This would ordinarily be fine except ...

Has anyone tried pulling the OE grip from a twist grip of that era? As my attempts to remove it became increasingly frustrated and inevitably destructive it became apparent that the whole thing is bonded up. I ended up whittling all the old rubber with a craft knife.

Very nearly put in the shade by the fire I then caused in the loom when I managed a goodly short with my new fuse attached ineffectually in a bypassed part of the wiring. A lot a squealing and flapping ensued as I fought my way through clouds of smoke and showers of sparks; hacking away with the wire cutters until I clipped the offending line - no agonising over whether to cut the red or blue one there. Duh.

[andyxlh]

Aw! Shame you don't have CCTV in the workshop.....
New grips are really cheap, so no problem there. No idea what the handlebar warmers are like, but do be aware that the alternator setup is not a high output and so you will need to keep an eye on the current draw. Thise kuryakyn voltmeters are really good, fit in between the handlebars too and show the charging voltage in a series of red/orange/green LEDs. might be worth fitting to check your drawdown. I had a set of BT road king driving lights on my bike years ago, which would flat the battery if i was not on the highway... of course the '91 up bikes get a higher output alternator too...

[cyclobutch]

Yeah new grips now on order. I think these are pretty low draw, and I'd expect to use them fairly exclusively at highway speeds. I've tended to keep a close eye on battery status pretty much since the manufacturers figured we could all do without kick starts. For those interested - product details, albeit from a UK site, are here:

http://www.windingroads.co.uk/shop/product.php/116/symtec_heated_grip_kit

[andyxlh]

they look good! they are rated at 3 amps - about 35 watts on high - my driving lights were 2x30w and just drew a little too much, so I would think you should be OK as long as you don't add the accessory ciggy lighter and DVD player...